When the Kings had flashes of success last March and April, Bogdan Bogdanovic was always pragmatic.

It felt good to win, but the Kings weren’t playing for anything.

There was no pressure and nothing of consequence was lost in defeat. It’s easy to play relaxed and free in that situation.

That’s why Friday night’s 116-109 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers at Golden 1 Center stung. It was the Kings’ first opportunity to get closer to the top eight in the Western Conference by dealing the team directly ahead of them a loss.

Instead, the Kings (31-31) fell three games behind the Clippers for seventh and 2 1/2 games behind San Antonio for eighth.

The Kings have 20 games to play and can still make the playoffs, but Bogdanovic realized the lost opportunity and said “a lot” of the loss was on him.

The Kings are still searching for who is going to be their go-to guy late in games when they need a play to be made, and have...